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A measured plan belongs on floor plan. This page needs the wall the deck leaves.

Deck Type

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Material

Board Direction

Railing Style

Deck Levels

Stair direction

Extra Details (Optional)

What the deck must keep

Keep the door height

The walking surface meets the sill you step through

Keep the stair direction

A locked run does not switch to the other side

Keep the drop

Open edges above the yard still get a guard

Deck

Deck

Deck

AI Deck Design

Rails and a stair that meet the door at its real height

A deck is rails, stairs, and door height. The walking surface lines up with the door you leave from. Stair direction can lock: out into the yard, or along the wall. If you lock it, the run in the result has to obey.

Door height is the datum. Stair direction can lock.

Seven pictures of one walk-off

The sill, the guard, the stair run, the landing, the yard below, the boards, and a second rail each need a picture. Drop a file into the matching slot and the block fills.

  • Deck

    Door height sets the boards

    The walking surface meets the sill. It does not invent a step at the door.

  • Deck

    Rails on the open edge

    A drop above the yard gets a guard. The house wall is not an open edge.

  • Deck

    The stair can lock

    Out into the yard, or along the wall. A locked run stays that run.

  • Deck

    A landing before the stair

    The door is not the top tread. There is room to step out.

  • Deck

    The yard stays below

    The ground under the deck is still the yard. The deck does not grade it flat.

  • Deck

    Boards can change direction

    Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or herringbone, without moving the sill.

  • Deck

    A second rail on the same drop

    Try another guard without moving the door or the stair run.

Datum

Door height sets the walking surface

Door height is the sill you step over. The deck meets it. A surface drawn a step below the slider, with no stair accounted for, is a patio pretending to be a deck. A surface drawn above the sill is a trip the house does not have.

Guard

Rails belong on every open edge

Rails are the guard where the deck is above the yard. Open sides get them. A boardwalk picture with nothing at the drop is incomplete, even when the boards and the door height are right. Balusters can change character. The guard itself is part of the brief.

Run

Stair direction can lock

Stairs take you from door height down to the yard. Stair direction can lock: straight out, or turned to run along the house. Lock it when a window, a tree, or a property edge makes the other run impossible. Leave it open only if both runs would fit.

A deck is a walk-off, not a floating platform

  • Door height

    The sill is the level of the deck. The boards do not invent a new step at the door.

  • Rails at the drop

    Open edges above the yard get a guard. Character of the baluster can vary.

  • Stairs to grade

    The run connects door height to the ground. It is not optional scenery.

  • Direction can lock

    You may fix the stair to run out or along the wall. A locked direction is obeyed.

  • Landing at the door

    There is room to step out before the stair begins. The door is not the top tread.

  • Yard left below

    The ground under and beyond the deck stays the yard it is. The deck does not grade it flat.

Find the sill, then decide if the stair may turn

  1. 1. Show the door

    Photograph the wall the deck leaves from, with the door and the ground below both visible.

  2. 2. State door height

    Door height is the deck level. Note rails on the open sides and where the stairs must land.

  3. 3. Lock the run or leave it

    Stair direction can lock. If a window or a tree blocks one run, say which direction is required.

The platform

Rails and a stair that meet the door at its real height

Deck design is a framed platform: walking surface, rails, and a stair. The door height is the datum. A deck drawn level with a door that is actually three feet up has invented a floor. Rails are part of the structure, not a decoration you add if the rendering looks bare.

The stair needs a landing and a direction you lock if you already know it. It should not dump a person into the only drain or into the neighbor’s line. Photograph the wall the deck leaves from, including the door and the ground below.

A patio sits on grade. A balcony is already in the air and small. This page is the built platform between those two. If you do not need to leave the ground, you do not need a deck.

Read the page from four sides

  • The height

    Match the door. Steps make up the difference. A floating deck that misses the threshold is unusable.

  • The rail

    Height and the gap are the safety. Furniture does not replace the rail.

  • The stair

    Direction, width, and where it lands. A stair into a bed of plants is not a stair.

  • The house

    The ledger line belongs on the wall you photographed. Do not move the door to suit the boards.

Where this page stops

The links below are the neighboring jobs. Each one keeps a promise this page does not make.

  • Patio is paving on grade. Choose it when you do not need to leave the ground.

  • Balcony is the small railed slab you already have, not a new platform.

  • Pool needs a coping and ground left over. A deck beside water is a joint the pool page has to accept.

Deck questions

The sill you step out on, the guard at the open edge, and which way the stair is allowed to run.

What does door height mean here?

The height of the sill you step through. Rails, stairs, and door height are the brief. The deck surface matches that sill.

Can I lock the stair along the house?

Yes. Stair direction can lock. Say along the wall, or out into the yard, and the other run should not appear.

Do rails go on the house side?

Rails guard open edges. The side against the house is the wall, not an open drop, unless the deck pulls away from it.

What if the door is a slider?

The slider still has a door height. Leave a landing so the panel can open before anyone reaches the stair.

Can the deck step down in two flights?

Yes, if door height and the landing are honest. Lock the direction of the run you care about so the flights do not wander into a window.

Why not use the patio page?

A patio is paving, furniture, and shade, with the level change kept. A deck is built to door height and needs rails and stairs.

Can the drop be read from this photo?

Only if the frame includes the door and the ground below it. A close crop of boards hides the height this page is supposed to keep.

Photograph the wall the deck leaves

Include the door, the drop, and the ground the stair would land on. If the sill moved, this pass failed.